The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-02-23
mill owner was short Of hands and

desired me to 90 to work at once.
1t may be thought strange that /
lid not ut once arrest Lane and have
lone with it. Had overhauled him
IN route that would have been the
olan, for the money would have been
n his valise. He had taken board Mt
the tavern, and during my first half
day there | had found his room open,
and his valise unlocked. There was
nothing in it which anyone would
want to take away. lie had, like q
sharp man, taken his money out and
planted it. He could not Justly sus1
Dect that was after him, for after
three or four days | went to work
alongside OF him and held him at
distance. He tried hard to get ac-
luainted with me, but / was taciturn
and unsocial. He gave me an oppor-
tunity to ask him questions, but | re-
fused to profit by it. admitted, for
a purpose. that left Milwaukee four
or five days behind him, and after
seeming to reflect for a while, he ask
ed:
"Was there any special news when
you eftY'
81 don't rememDer'
mo murders or robberies.
"There was mystery OF some sort,
| believe. Somebody drew q lot OF
money out OF the bank, fell into the
hands ofsharpers, and they were look.
iaq in the ysyer and lake for his dead
oody."
"Hem!" he coughed, and that ended
our conversation, though | did not
.ail TO notice the look OF qualification
which crept over his face. That he
had hidden the treasure was certain.
That he would visit it sooner or later
was dead sure. l watched him close
" during the day, and saw that he
was nervous and preoccupled. | ex'
pected that he would 90 out to inspect
bis treasure at night, and | took my
precautions that he should not es'
cape me, but he made no move. He
went to work on Friday noon oil
one week and l on Thursday oil
the next. When Sunday week came
it was bright, warm day, and
j made up my mind not to lose
sight OF him for an hour. There were
several acres OF logs in the yard, and
after breakfast | went to the mill.
climbed up in the attic, and had the
yard and the hamlet under my eye.
At about 10 O. clock Lane came down
into the yard, wandered about in an
aimless sort of way, though all the
time keeping his eyes open, and by
and by | saw him inspecting n huge
log lying near a thorn-apple tree,
which was the only tree or bush in the
yard. | had been hauling logs with
the cattle to the bank and dumping
them off for the elevator or car to
carry them up the incline into the
mill, and had noticed the big log. 1t
had been there for years, and was
worthless. Now that | saw Lane in
the vicinity | made up my mind that
he had hidden his money close by,
and slipped out and went for a ram
BILE in the woods.
That night at midnight without any
thing having happened to create
suspicion on Lanes part, l dressed
myself and crept out OF the tavern to
make hunt for the money. On my
way out paused at his door, aud he
was breathing like man fast asleep.
/ had my revolver and pair ofhand'
cuffs ready to take with me, but miss
ed them after | got outside. Every.
thing about was 80 quiet that set
off, thinking to be back with the mon
ey in a few minutes. The big log lay
within twenty feet OF the bank. There
was hollow in one end, but no mon
sy. The other was solid. climbed
pver it and passed around it, and had
lust discovered hollow which had
been the base of big limb, when Igot
blow on the neck, which rolled me
over and over for ten feet. Before l
could ret UP Lane was upon me. He
was O good deal the larger and stout
err man, but he could not hold me
still. | could roll under him, and
while his object seemed to be to clutch
my throat, gave him two good blows
in the face and got to my feet. Not
word was spoken by either OF us.
We stood COR a moment gasping for
breath, and then he rushed at me like
an enraged bull, and we both clinched.
He handled me almost as ifIhad been
a boy, and it wasn't over minute be-
fore we were on the bank above water
twelve feet deep. There was a thin
skim OF ice over it, and the man who
went in there could not live long.
In boxing match | could have got
the better OF Lane. In such clinch
his brute strength was a terrible ad'
vantage. His object was, OF course,
to pitch me into the river. but hung
to him so well that he was baffied.
We were still struggling on the brink,
when q great slice OF the bank gave
WHY and we went into the ice.cold wa.